Trent Alexander-Arnold

[Charly]

I think its the feeling he is being snidey in his behaviour and the contract negociations are not in good faith.

If he had come out and stated he fancied a change, but he will be giving 100% until the end of the season, I think fans would be less upset with him. Klopp did the same thing. He could have just announced it at the end of the season, but it just shows respect to the people who idolise you. And we know how much Klopp cares about people in general.

I get the feeling that Trent only cares about Trent... which is fair enough. But dont expect anything other than stick when he put in a performance like that when he gets paid the same in two week than I have probably earnt in the last decade.

Salah gets a pass because he did re-sign at his "peak" 3 years ago, and I genuinely get the feeling he want to stay. He wants a lot of money, and I dont blame him based on his record this season. Will he keep up this form for another 3 years... probably not. But it is all in good faith. Same with VVD. Nobody questions his committment. He is the best defender of his generation and he has given everything for us.

At his point I might consider taking 20-30m, as his head isnt in the game, and I dont think it is going to do the team any good in term of morale. He stank the place up earlier with his petulance on being substituted. I didnt hear any of the stick he got yeaterdau during the game, but we certainly dont need that atmosphere around the club. I understand people will get frustrated with those kinds of performances. Football is an outlet for many just to vent after a week of continual bull**** in work/life. Id be thinking about bringing in a new right back now either way.

[baitman]

I think its the feeling he is being snidey in his behaviour and the contract negociations are not in good faith.

If he had come out and stated he fancied a change, but he will be giving 100% until the end of the season, I think fans would be less upset with him. Klopp did the same thing. He could have just announced it at the end of the season, but it just shows respect to the people who idolise you. And we know how much Klopp cares about people in general.

I get the feeling that Trent only cares about Trent... which is fair enough. But dont expect anything other than stick when he put in a performance like that when he gets paid the same in two week than I have probably earnt in the last decade.

Salah gets a pass because he did re-sign at his "peak" 3 years ago, and I genuinely get the feeling he want to stay. He wants a lot of money, and I dont blame him based on his record this season. Will he keep up this form for another 3 years... probably not. But it is all in good faith. Same with VVD. Nobody questions his committment. He is the best defender of his generation and he has given everything for us.

At his point I might consider taking 20-30m, as his head isnt in the game, and I dont think it is going to do the team any good in term of morale. He stank the place up earlier with his petulance on being substituted. I didnt hear any of the stick he got yeaterdau during the game, but we certainly dont need that atmosphere around the club. I understand people will get frustrated with those kinds of performances. Football is an outlet for many just to vent after a week of continual bull**** in work/life. Id be thinking about bringing in a new right back now either way.

Only problem is, even if the club did decide to try and sell him now, he would probably prefer to go on a free and get a big sign on bonus from madrid. If he didn't want to go we can't make him...
With all this will he/won't he going on I worry how this can cause upset and uncertainty in the squad. Nothing should distract from out title charge. We obviously don't know what grief may be going on in the dressing room, but if it's significant then something needs to be done.
We could see how exasperated vvd was with trent, and could this possibly influence virgils decision to renew?

[Charly]

Only problem is, even if the club did decide to try and sell him now, he would probably prefer to go on a free and get a big sign on bonus from madrid. If he didn't want to go we can't make him...

That would only confirm that Trent is acting like a dick though. If he is desperate to go to Madrid, but doesnt want to lose a bigger signing on fee. Google reckons Trent has made $50m in his career already.

Its not something I can relate to, really.

As I said, if it was in good faith for the biggest contract at Liverpool he can get, I could respect that (although i dont think he is worth it, to be honest). I think that he has his heart set on Madrid, but doesnt have the balls to say so. Mo and VVD have it on record of saying they want to stay. Trent has kept his mouth shut on the matter, all the while Madrid are putting cheeky bids in. HE could ask to leave, but that means we wouldnt pay his contract up or get his loyalty bonus (probably)

[Tatterdemalion]

It would be worse. A policy of sell with two years left on the conteact if they don't extend would've meant selling in Summer 23 in the midst of our midfield rebuild and before our new Mane/Firmino-less forward line had settled-down - and, as it would've transpired, with a nanagerial-change not far away.

It also would've meant looking to sell Mo only one year into his three year extension.

I suppose the counter argument would be that the two year rule would've meant sorting out the midfield etc would've happened earlier.

No disrespect intended here but I think this misses the point (and I haven't chosen to respond to your post specifically, just to make the point). It isn't about selling them 2 years before their contract is up, the point is to engage the player on a new contract early enough to gauge their interest in renewal so that a decision can be made whether or not to let the player run down their contract, or to sell them. We've allowed players to run down their contract in lots of circumstances for legends and ageing players and it might be acceptable for the likes of VVD or Salah (although I would like them to extend), but to be in this situation with Trent implies that that engagement did not take place early enough, and it is this that the club needs to remedy for the future.

I just think a lot of this discussion really misses the point that we shouldn't be allowing 3 players to get this close to running down their contracts. It just doesn't matter what the alternative is or might be - whether we should have sold them or not, what matters is that the club has clearly ****ed up because we haven't given ourselves those options and the club needs to learn from this.

[BG1973]

Actually it's not clear at all which is why it's being debated here, and ironic to say it misses the point.. because none of us have all of the facts to fully understand where we are. That's why it's dissappointing to hear such black and white opinions here and elsewhere.

Imo it's not a coincidence that it's 3 of the most senior players in this situation at the same time. For me their performance value (regards both results and earnings that brings) and timing of events in relations to Klopp's plans meant there is more value in keeping them and risking this scenario than previously (trying to) taking the money at some stage.

[Charly]

No disrespect intended here but I think this misses the point (and I haven't chosen to respond to your post specifically, just to make the point). It isn't about selling them 2 years before their contract is up, the point is to engage the player on a new contract early enough to gauge their interest in renewal so that a decision can be made whether or not to let the player run down their contract, or to sell them.

You dont know that we didnt.

IF we did and they didnt accept or refused to entertain negotaitions, what then?

Sell? If they dont want to go you cant do anything. Trent probably had this planned after Bellingham went to Madrid. Literally nothing we can do.

Salah signed 2 and a half years ago. We would have been stupid to sign him again before, especuially with the drop off in his form.

VVD may have wanted to wait as the team was in transition.

The players hold all of the power.

If they dont ask for a transfer, they are entitled to have their contracts paid off in full too, as technically the club are in breach of contract.

[Exiled_red]

It would be interesting to know what has actually happened, but I doubt we will until someone writes a book. I would imagine 2 years to 18 months out the club would probably be engaged in discussions with players and agents etc and in most cases hope to get deals signed.

That period corresponds to all the upheaval and uncertainty around Klopp and director of football and so on. I think that it is natural that the contracts might get delayed because of that, it would be interesting to know if discussions had started but we're then paused by the club or player because either the club wanted the new staff to determine value or contract length (understandable from a club point of view but frustrating for the players) or if the player paused them because they didn't know who the manager was and/or wanted to see how things developed under him (again understandable). If the club hadn't started discussions and were waiting until this season had started with no info you could understand why the players felt frustrated. Who really knows what happened. But on my mind we should really have deals sorted before players are able to negotiate terms and sign pre contract agreements.

[vlahka]

The sooner he leaves the better.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40ciYs3tjc0"]'That is SHOCKING' 🥴 Trent Alexander-Arnold's 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐬ððžð«ðœð¥ðšð¬ð ¬ against Manchester United - YouTube[/ame]

[5europeancups]

Players come and go all the time and its a part of football business to adapt and make succession plans to keep going knowing that players performance can deteriorate either through age or other reasons.

the thing about Liverpool is that we are not Man City or Chelsea paying ridiculous contracts for players and or business model which has been a reason for a success has always been very fact based decision making which is why Michael Edwards is back.

They will be looking at the stats of all the players and evaluating their value with a tried and trusted model. When they need to spend big they do , for example VVD signing.

there are many factors involved not just recent form, including susceptibility to injury linked to age and other factors.

Not all the decisions taken by the club are perfect but most are pretty good.

I personally think Trent has told the club he is leaving and the club has decided not to announce that until the end of the season to avoid noise around his performances and motivation. I think he is gone.

the Salah situation is different, the players wants to stay but is exploiting his current form to get a massive contract. He is having the form of his life now , but there have been lean patches and he bags a lot of penalties.

I think 200K for 3 years is fair at his age. (I think this is where the club are right now) he obviously wants his current terms for the next three years.

VVD is 33 and is also in great form now but he is more consistent. Out of the three, as club captain I would want to keep him for a further 3 years. He looks after himself well and performs consistently.

[Buzzo]

Was looking at club salaries and notes Curtis is on £15k per week.

I started to think, ‘how does he manage…

Do the others buy more rounds when they go out for pints?

[SB]

Was looking at club salaries and notes Curtis is on £15k per week.

I started to think, ‘how does he manage…

Do the others buy more rounds when they go out for pints?

That’s embarrassing from the Club really. Shows a lack of respect if that’s true.

[dom9]

I’m pretty sure Daniel Austin is a Liverpool fan.

He is, yes.

I used to follow on him on Twitter but he was a bit too dramatic so I stopped. Seems like a genuine guy, just a bit intense.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Was looking at club salaries and notes Curtis is on £15k per week.

I started to think, ‘how does he manage…

Do the others buy more rounds when they go out for pints?

Depends where you look.

From what I can see he has been on 67k a week basic the past two season(yearly salary of £3,484,000) with the contract he signed in 2021/22 being one that started low but that went up almost every season.


https://salarysport.com/football/player/curtis-jones/

[Paul12]

I suspect the club DOES have a strategy for each of its player's contracts and that it keeps that strategy under regular review.

So, for example, it wouldn't surprise me if it had been thinking the current contracts that Mo and Virgil have were the last ones they'd have because it was thought that their performances were dipping and because the squad needs to be constantly renewed otherwise. Thus view of their performances is consistent with the general tone on this site post Xmas. Their post-Klopp improvement has thrown that call into question.

Trent would always have been different. I think there was a change in his attitude towards defending 18 months or so ago, which is when Klopp started fiddling. Yes Trent says now that he wants to be known as the world's best right-back but a year ago he was saying he was a midfielder really. I had the family he was half in and half out even then, not least because neither Luverpool nor England saw him as a midfielder. More recently, and despite him not keeping his England place at the Euros, Trent has started talking about himself as an 'elite player'. My guess is that for all these reasons the strategy of both the club and Trent has been 'no early decisions'.

This is of course all guesswork.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I suspect the club DOES have a strategy for each of its player's contracts and that it keeps that strategy under regular review.

So, for example, it wouldn't surprise me if it had been thinking the current contracts that Mo and Virgil have were the last ones they'd have because it was thought that their performances were dipping and because the squad needs to be constantly renewed otherwise. Thus view of their performances is consistent with the general tone on this site post Xmas. Their post-Klopp improvement has thrown that call into question.

Trent would always have been different. I think there was a change in his attitude towards defending 18 months or so ago, which is when Klopp started fiddling. Yes Trent says now that he wants to be known as the world's best right-back but a year ago he was saying he was a midfielder really. I had the family he was half in and half out even then, not least because neither Luverpool nor England saw him as a midfielder. More recently, and despite him not keeping his England place at the Euros, Trent has started talking about himself as an 'elite player'. My guess is that for all these reasons the strategy of both the club and Trent has been 'no early decisions'.

This is of course all guesswork.

The talk of him wanting to be seen as the best RB in the world coincided with Carvajal getting his long term injury at Real.

Prior to that TAA was, as you said, talking himself up as a midfielder.

It did always tickle me the idea of him thinking that, as a midfielder, he would be able to get into the Real team or even be in their top six midfielders (at that time).


The talking himself up as an "elite" player thing I always found a bit sad tbh. Am never quite sure if it is as sinmple as having great confidence in himself (no problem with that tbf) or is it is a little hint at being insecure.

Much prefer elite players to show they are elite through their performances season in season out, than them having to try to put the label onto themselves.

I'm sure guys like VVD think and know that they are elite level footballers, but how often have we seen the likes of VVD sit down for interviews during which he spoke about himself as being the top guy? He knows he is, he knows we all think he is, so he does not have to come out and say it himself.